Home Local News Special task group to scrutinise St Helens Council’s waste service plans

Special task group to scrutinise St Helens Council’s waste service plans

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Details have been announced of a task group that will review waste and recycling proposals for the St Helens.

The announcement follows last month’s cabinet meeting, which deferred a decision to pilot a three-weekly brown bin collection so that scrutiny could investigate the plans.

The first meeting of the task group, which is open to the public to observe, will take place in Committee Room 10 at the Town Hall on Wednesday 11 April at 6pm.

The task group will invite senior council officers and councillors to give evidence about the plans and explain how and why the proposals have been developed.

Councillor Martin Bond, Chair of the Environment, Housing, Regeneration, Culture and Leisure scrutiny panel, is chairing the task group. Members from all three political parties represented on the council have been invited to take part and the task group will also seek the views of the public, who are encouraged to contact their local ward councillors with their comments.

Councillor Bond said: “Waste and recycling is the only service provided by the council that directly impacts every household on a weekly basis. There is naturally huge interest in anything that affects the service. Scrutiny will look at the proposals and the reasoning behind them.

“As all elected members of scrutiny are residents as well, we are users of the service and want it to be the best it can be. That must be set against the confines of continuing austerity and potentially punitive Government targets.”

Councillor David Baines, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission which oversees the council’s scrutiny business, added: “Scrutiny is independent of any party politics – all members know to leave their party allegiances at the door when they take part. We will look at the proposals for changes to the waste collection system objectively, interviewing senior officers and councillors, and we encourage as many residents as possible to contact their local councillors with their views.

“It’s important that the public understand that scrutiny does not have the power to make decisions, however we can make recommendations and we’ll be doing so based on the evidence we hear.”

To find out more about the council’s scrutiny process visit www.sthelens.gov.uk/council/councillors-elections-voting/scrutiny

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